Lilo & Stitch

A very entertaining tweak on Disney tradition, the House of Mouse's lost-little-alien animated comedy Lilo & Stitch mixes standard elements (the main character is an orphaned little girl) with a funnier, edgier, but still kid-flavored sense of humor. Stitch is a super-strong, super-intelligent, razor-toothed, cute but destructive little blue monster who has escaped from a mad scientist on another planet and crash-landed in Hawaii. Mistaken for a peculiar breed of stray dog, he's taken in by little Lilo, who is something of an outcast herself, and promptly begins to wreak havoc on the household, headed by Lilo's 19-year-old struggling waitress sister Nani. Complications arise with the arrival of the mad scientist, who tries to blend in as a tourist, and with a hackneyed subplot involving a social worker wanting to break up the sisters for idiotically contrived reasons. Bad subplot aside, Lilo & Stitch is driven by zany, well-timed, off-the-wall humor that will be welcome to both younger and older audiences. Enthusiastically recommended. [Note: DVD extras include the nine-minute “DisneyPedia: Hawaii—The Islands of Aloha” fact-filled featurette, “A Stitch in Time” three-minute featurette that playfully inserts Stitch into Disney classics, a four-minute hula lesson with “hula consultant” Mark Heali'I Ho'omalu, a three-minute “Young Voices of Hawaii” choir segment, a two-minute segment with Wynonna Judd on her remake of Elvis' “Burning Love,” the brief music video “I Can't Help Falling in Love with You” by the A-Teens, a four-minute featurette on production design, a three-minute segment on animating the hula dance sequence, the 19-minute “On Location with the Directors,” three deleted scenes with onscreen intros by the filmmakers, “Create Your Own Alien Experiment” trivia game, teaser trailers, and DVD-ROM features. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a cute film.] (R. Blackwelder)[DVD Review—Mar. 17, 2009—Walt Disney, 2 discs, 85 min., PG, $29.99—Making its second appearance on DVD, 2002's Lilo & Stitch (2-Disc Big Wave Edition) looks great and features Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. New DVD extras include audio commentary by writers/directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, a two-hours-plus “The Story Room” interactive “making-of” documentary, three island adventure games, and the music video for “Your ‘Ohana” featuring the Hawaiian Chorus. Ported over from the earlier release are deleted scenes, “A Stitch in Time: Follow Stitch Through the Disney Years” (4 min.), a hula lesson (4 min.), “Animating the Hula” (3 min.), “Burning Love: Behind the Scenes with Wynonna” on the soundtrack song (2 min.), the music video for “I Can't Help Falling in Love with You” performed by A-Teens, a “DisneyPedia: Hawaii—The Islands of Aloha” interactive featurette, a “Create Your Own Alien Experiment” game, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine new edition of a solid contemporary Disney film.][Blu-ray Review—July 2, 2013—Walt Disney, 3 discs, 153 min., PG, $29.99—Making their first appearance on Blu-ray, 2002's Lilo & Stitch and 2005's Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch both feature fine transfers and DTS-HD 5.1 soundtracks. The Blu-ray contains both feature films with no special features, while the bonus DVD copies included carry over extras from previous releases. The DVD for Lilo & Stitch features audio commentary by writers/directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, a hula lesson (4 min.), “A Stitch in Time” (3 min.), “Animating the Hula” (3 min.), “Burning Love: Behind the Scenes with Wynonna” on the soundtrack song (2 min.), the interactive “DisneyPedia: Hawaii—The Islands of Aloha,” the music videos “I Can't Help Falling in Love with You” by A-Teens, and “Your ‘Ohana” featuring the Hawaiian Chorus, the “Create Your Own Alien Experiment” game, and trailers. The DVD for Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch includes a bonus short called “The Origin of Stitch” (5 min.), the music video “Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride” by Jump5, a “Where's Pleakley?” set-top game, a “Jumba's Experiment Profiler” featurette and mini-game, and trailers. Bottom line: a welcome, bargain-priced Blu-ray debut for Lilo & Stitch and its sequel.]